A storytelling 3d artist…

Black and White Ch. 25

Jang Tae Yong, his father, and his grandfather, were known as the sage Kings that had brought Eondeog Mun out of darkness.

Before his Grandfather’s rule, Eondoeg Mun had been plagued by poverty, bad governance, famines, plagues, wars and foreign invasions.

His grandfather, Jang Tae Seo had at least taken care of the wars and invasions.

He and the General of the army, Kim Jun Ho (Kim Dae Hyeon’s grandfather), had come up with strategies to strengthen Eondoeg Mun’s military and they had succeeded.

Eondeog Mun was not as great as history recorded, but they were a lot better off.

His father, Jang Tae Yeon, had continued in his father’s footsteps, but had also diverted his energies to weeding out corrupt officials.

Of course, there was still corruption going on, but the system had become a lot cleaner.

This also fairly reduced the level of poverty amongst the lower class, as certain unfair laws had been reviewed.

Then Jang Tae Yong had ascended the throne.

While he had been Crown Prince, he had travelled to foreign prosperous kingdoms, looking into their methods of handling things like plagues, famines and other such problems.

He had brought this knowledge home and handed it to his father. But his father had not lasted long, so he had ascended and implemented the new policies and ideas as King.

Also, with the help of Kim Dae Hyeon, his friend from childhood, he managed to always have an idea of what happened around the kingdom.

The people loved him as King.

And today was his fifty-third birthday.

Which was why the Capital was the busiest it had ever been since his birthday the previous year.

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The King stroked Sigan, then let him fly.

Yes, birthdays were good, but after years of carrying the weight of the overtly ornate throne on his shoulders, he was inclined to use trivial things like birthdays to achieve more reasonable goals.

He smiled to himself.

Today was a good day.

The day the Prime Minister realized the King was aware of who he was and what he was planning.

For years, he and the Prime Minister had silently battled each other.

He had lost his wife, and had had to banish his own son, because of the Prime Minister’s ambitions.

The Prime Minister had always been careful, never leaving any trace to himself, but Jang Tae Yong had always felt sure he was behind it.

Then the lady, Pal Wol, had confirmed his suspicions eleven years ago.

She had also revealed something else; something so utterly unbelievable at the time.

The Prime Minister, Sang Yoo Jin, had been his ancestor, the first Jang on the throne.

King Jang Yoo Jin.

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The past…

At first, the King had refused to believe such an unbelievable thing, but Kim Dae Hyeon had reminded him of the events surrounding his daughter’s birth.

He had still been sceptical, but convinced she could find the truth, Pal Wol had unearthed the hidden Palace records, left by Jang Seung Jae, the so-called bloodthirsty King.

He and Kim Dae Hyeon had gone through the records, Pal Wol translating most of the strange words, and they had found more surprising facts that defied history as they knew it.

Unfortunately, Pal Wol had been murdered before the dark events stated, so she did not exactly know what had happened.

The hidden records had also left some important questions unanswered.

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Present…

And so, here they were a hundred and fifty years later, trying to stop the same thing, or worse, from happening again.

In the past, for some reason, Jang Yoo Jin had died, and the Shadow beneath the Kingdom had not been released.

Now, the King knew the Prime Minister would stop at nothing to succeed…

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The King’s birthday was looked forward to by people of all classes.

For the lower class and middle class, a mass celebration was held, and food was shared to everyone.

The streets were turned into a mini festival, and the King also put in an appearance, to visit the people as thanks for their good wishes.

This had not always been a tradition, but his father had started it, and he had no problems continuing it.

Most people only ever saw the King on this day.

But the celebration that carried the most weight was the one that held in the evening.

The celebration held within the Palace, open to only the nobles.

The Palace gates were extremely busy, as the guards tried to coordinate the arrival of the nobles.

The palanquins, which were usually accompanied by several guards and young maidens carrying colourful lanterns, were dropped a few at a time, and the nobles within were guarded through the gates, without any waste of time.

The lower ranked nobles who arrived without palanquins had things much easier as they and their guard merely showed their identity plaques and were let into a smaller gate.

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All too soon, Da Yeong heard her father’s chief guard yell for their palanquins to be dropped.

The previous day, their palanquins had arrived from Nam Guk, with a disguised guard and kitchen girl pretending to be her and her father.

The ruse had basically gone unnoticed, as many other nobles had been arriving at the Capital for the event as well.

To the public eye, Lord Kim and his daughter had just arrived in Gwang Guk the previous day…

Lord Kim had wanted to arrange for Ju Won to arrive with them, but he had absolutely refused to enter a palanquin, arriving on a handsome horse instead, dressed as a stately noble.

Da Yeong envied him!

“Kim Da Yeong Agashi!” Her name was announced and the palanquin flap was opened.

One of the female servants took her hand and she stepped out of the palanquin.